Category Archives: Church Year

Exercise?

exercise

Several days into the New Year, without fail, gyms, rec centers and fitness classes are filled with people. Exercise is #1 on almost every person’s New Year’s resolutions list. And all establishments that cater to exercise reap the benefits, at least at this time of year.

Then in a few months, the number of visitors and attendees will begin to trail off, like clock work. We are a fickle people and a people who don‘t keep up with their promises on things like this that take extra work and more pain and added time to our days.

Thank God that he is not like that with us. He commits to us and sticks with us and continues to exercise his role in our lives from day to day and year to year. He will never get tired or weary of us. He will not back out of a relationship with us because it is painful or more work or takes a lot of time. He loves us regardless of how we look or what we have done. He loves us because we belong to him and we are his own. Our membership in his family will never run out.

Truly Wise

wise men

Coming 12 days after Christmas, Epiphany is the official day in the church year when we celebrate the arrival of the Wise Men to the place where Jesus was. We call them Wise Men because that is how the Bible defines them. It is assumed that they are called wise because they presumably studied astronomy and knew of the location and movements of a star that was quite unusual and that was related to the birth of a king.

But the Wise Men proved to be very wise on their trip as well. They went to Herod‘s palace to get information from Scripture about a newborn king. They listened to what the Scriptures said and went to the town of Bethlehem. After they saw Jesus, the Wise Men, prompted by a dream, were wise in not returning to King Herod, who did not have good things in mind for Jesus.

The Wise Men were most wise of all when they met Jesus face to face. They bowed before him. They worshiped him. They gave him extravagant gifts that told the world that this was a very special King.

What can we learn from these Wise Men? It is wise for us, too, to go to Scripture for answers. It is wise to know and honor the right King, Jesus. And it is wise to give our King Jesus the very best of our gifts of precious time, special talents and treasured possessions. Be like the Wise Men in every way you can today.

Holy Week

Holy Week

Here we are in the midst of what the Church calls Holy Week, commemorating the last week of our Lord’s life on earth. Waving palms in the Palm Sunday parade as Jesus enters Jerusalem for the last time reminds us that Jesus is the King of our lives and a King that is headed toward the throne of the cross. Walking up the stairs to the Upper Room on Maundy Thursday, we prepare to taste and see in bread and wine, his body and blood, that he is loving and forgiving beyond measure. On Good Friday, we witness the cruel death of a Savior, a death that should have been ours. But on Easter we receive a life from our risen Lord that shouldn’t be ours at all, but is ours forevermore because of him.

This particular week may be called holy, but the fact is that all our weeks are holy and blessed by our Lord and Savior and each week of our lives should contain elements of Holy Week itself. Each week should begin with praise to our King through word and song and worship. Each week we should confess our sins and be filled with forgiveness from Jesus that we then pass on to others. Our eyes should look to the cross each week and remember the sacrifice of our Savior for our sake. And every week we should recall the new life we are given every day because of Christ’s resurrection.

When we look at each week as holy, what a blessing each week becomes for us and what a focus our lives can take in Christ.

Types of Encouragement

encouragementScott Christenson, another one of the keynote speakers at Best Practices, spoke about different ways in which we can encourage each other in the Church.

The first is cheer encourgement. We can let each other know, “You can do it!” We can tell people, “Great job!” and “Congratulations!” when we see our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ doing well in the work of the Lord.

The second is support encouragement. Things do not always go the way we expect them to, but we can be there to say “Hang in there” and “Do not give up.” God has got this and it is not all up to us. It is up to him to complete the mission he has planned.

The third is challenge encouragement. Sometimes people need a little push, a little nudge in the direction God wants them to go. We can help people to see the big picture and see that maybe it is time for them to do something new or take a risk that God has in mind for them. Point people to possibilities in ministry they may not have thought of before.

Think of ways you can be an encourager in these three ways this week and keep this verse in mind:

“Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing” (1 Thessalonians 5:11).

 

Take His Yoke

yokeDan Shepmann, one of the keynote speakers at Best Practices in Phoenix in February, talked about these verses:

 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. —Matthew 11:29-30

Shepmann brought an actual yoke to show. It does not look easy or light at first glance, but in the hands of our Master, it is.

Yokes put on oxen are controlled by the farmer, the Master of the ox.The ox yoked to the Master cannot go anywhere without the Master guiding and directing. This makes the work easier for the ox. With Christ as our guide, we learn how to maneuver through the treacherous portions of life, as he did on the way to the cross for our salvation.

One translation of these verses says that the Master’s yoke “fits well.” It is not a “one size fits all” sort of approach. Our weight, our mission, that is placed upon us by our Lord is custom designed for us. So being yoked to our Savior is not something to struggle with, but something to hold on to and to celebrate the gifts God has given you to be the bearer of this yoke.

And our Savior promises to be gentle. His gentle hands on the reigns make our work for him manageable and doable and pleasing to him and to ourselves. In this light, what a privilege it is to “take his yoke upon us.”

 

12 Days

12 daysWe all know the song about the 12 days of Christmas that starts, “On the first day of Christmas, my true love sent to me … ” But do we really celebrate the full 12 days of Christmas in our homes? Our society tends to want to end the celebration on the 25th. But our church year calendar has the 12 days of the Christmas SEASON built into it.

The 12 days on the church year calendar span the time from Christmas Day to Epiphany (Jan. 6), when we celebrate the arrival of the wise men to worship Jesus.

So we as followers of Christ and followers of the church year calendar should do all we can to enjoy the entire 12 days of Christmas and not pack everything up on the night of the 25th.

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What Color Are We In?

green trees

We are in the green season of Pentecost now.

Now that we are at the beginning of what is called “the long green season of Pentecost.” I find it beneficial to review for myself the significance of the color of this season and the colors of all the seasons of the Church Year.

Whether you know it or not, church tradition has established colors to correspond with each season of the Church Year. Currently, we are in the “green” season of the Sundays after Pentecost (which will end in November.) Green is a symbol of growth and maturity. This is a time for us to grow in and become more grounded in our faith. Green helps us to remember that Christ is the Vine and we are the branches, so we need to continually rely on him through prayer, worship, devotion and Bible study. We are always to be lifelong learners of faith. Let this be your mindset and mood during these weeks.

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Church Staffing Trends

coffee shop

Church staffers are meeting at the coffee shop to read the Word of God more and more.

Recently in Outreach magazine, William Vanderbloemen, co-author of Next: Pastoral Succession That Works, identified five current trends in church staffing that I found interesting and from which we as those who serve the church can learn. Here are my thoughts on each:

  1. Out with the specialist, in with the leaders. No longer do churches need someone who is highly specialized in one area. What is more in demand is someone who can effectively lead a group and motivate people to action.
  1. The succession conversation is vital. There is much more discussion within churches about the direction in which ministry is going and who will be taking over the role of pastor to guide the church in that particular direction. There is a more hands-on approach within congregations as to who will be called for pastoring the next generation of believers.
  1. Experts on millennials are in high demand. As much as I don’t want to admit it, we as a church must understand more fully what drives the millennial generation of believers. We cannot “do church” the same old way anymore. We need input in church planning from those who have a handle on reaching out to Christian millennials in meaningful ways to them.
  1. Personal touch is paramount. There needs to be a sense that the church staff cares about each member individually. People need to be treated like family and not like numbers on an attendance sheet. Members recognize the difference and will run out the door if they are not welcomed warmly.
  1. Impersonal services are being outsourced. Like in many businesses these days, such things as accounting and maintenance are being outsourced so that the church staff can be more involved in the life of the congregation and not stuck behind a desk combing through paperwork. The church is about reaching out to people with Christ, and that is done most effectively face-to-face and in person, with church workers in homes and hallways and parks and coffee shops, wherever two or three are gathered in Christ’s name.

As I ponder these trends as a product developer of church resources, I realize even more clearly that our materials need to be practical to get people active, they need to be forward-thinking, they need to meet the needs of the growing population, they must have a personal touch and they must provide a sense of care from the faith community. I eagerly await what the Spirit sends my way as I brainstorm new avenues to spreading the Gospel message in the church through the written word in this ever-changing time.

Risen

I saw the movie Risen in the theater a couple weeks ago, and was especially struck by how the actors portrayed the disciples’ individual reunions with their Savior. There was utter joy on their faces at seeing their Master again and Jesus responded with pure exuberance at seeing them again as they embraced one another. The movie’s portrayals of these interactions spoke to the depth of the bonds that Jesus had with his disciples and the eagerness they all had to be together.

empty tomb

He is risen indeed!

It reminds me that Jesus desires the same sort of relationship with me and with each one of us. But I find myself not as quick to respond as the disciples did. I moan a little when I wake up on some Sundays before heading to church. I hesitate to pray before a meal or at bedtime, because I feel uncomfortable about engaging in the activity.

But worship and prayer should be something that come naturally to us as Christians. They should be things that we crave and that we are eager to involve ourselves in. Why? Because they give us more personal time with our best Friend, Jesus. They help us to grow closer to him, to build a stronger relationship with our Lord who only wants to be with us and love us. Continue reading →

Easter Eggs

I am always fascinated by the attraction to Easter egg hunts. Why do we get so excited about them? I know that lots of parishes hold them every year, and even the Easter Egg Roll at the White House on Easter Monday is a huge event with thousands in attendance.Easter eggs

I thought to myself, “What does an Easter egg hunt entail?” First, there is the act of first dying the eggs in various colors for the hunt. Then there is the hiding of the eggs, and finally the finding.

Then it hit me: the Easter egg hunt is a microcosm of what happened that first Easter.

First, Christ died for us and drops of his red blood fell to the ground, much the same way dye drops onto the pure white of the egg. After Jesus dies, he is hidden, buried in a tomb behind a large Continue reading →